Thursday, July 8, 2010

The American Alpine Institute just received the following email from Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest:

Everett, Wash., July 6, 2010—This weekend visitors driving onto the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest will need a map showing what type of motor vehicles they can use and where they can use them. The maps are free at Forest Service offices and on the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest website. Roads and trails will no longer be signed in the field as to permissible uses.

The map changes how the Forest Service will enforce road closures to motor vehicles on national forests. Those travelling on a forest road, area or trail not shown on the MVUM can be cited.

The map is a result of the 2005 National Travel Management Rule requiring each national forest to assess road systems to limit environmental damage caused by off-highway vehicles, such as jeeps, motorcycles and quads, and to create a uniform system of enforcement across the country. The rule does not apply to snowmobiles.

The entire 2,600 mile road system on the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest is open to state licensed, street legal vehicles. About 100 miles of forest trails are open to motorbikes and one area, Evans Creek, is open to other vehicles including quads.

The Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest did not make any changes or close roads to vehicles during this process. “We actually started several decades ago looking at motor vehicle use patterns and making decisions on the use of roads and trails based on public involvement,” said Rob Iwamoto, Forest Supervisor.

To keep up with on-going changes to road and trail systems, each national forest will update its map annually. For more information about the map, or to print it, go to http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/mbs/.

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